Head of Technology

Our client, a London-based fintech firm, is looking to hire a Head of Technology to lead the end-to-end technology strategy and execution for their operations in merchant acquiring (POS/SoftPOS, online) and card issuing (settlement and consumer cards).

This senior hire will be responsible for driving scalable, compliant, and resilient technology platforms while managing vendor ecosystems and building high-performing engineering teams.

Responsibilities:

Technology Vision & Architecture

• Design, define and communicate the overall technology roadmap for acquiring and issuing operations.
• Oversee system architecture decisions across payment gateway, card issuing, mobile, and web platforms.
• Ensure scalability, resilience, and security across all systems.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies that align with business goals.

Vendor Management & Delivery

• Lead vendor selection, negotiation, and management across SaaS, Cloud, and On-Prem providers.
• Oversee vendor implementation, integration, and successful delivery into production.
• Establish vendor performance metrics and ensure SLAs are consistently met.
• Manage relationships with payment schemes, regulators, and technology providers from technical perspective.

Scheme Certifications & Integrations

• Drive scheme certifications (Visa, Mastercard, and others) across acquiring and issuing flows.
• Oversee integration with local switches, processors and ensure compliance with their requirements.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of scheme mandates, certifications, and implementation roadmaps.

Leadership & Team Development

• Build, mentor, and lead engineering and technology teams.
• Establish a culture of excellence, innovation, and accountability.

Security, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure full compliance with international regulatory standards.
• Oversee PCI DSS, PCI PIN and local data protection adherence.
• Oversee fraud prevention, risk management, and transaction monitoring in the technology flows.
• Partner with compliance teams to proactively address regulatory changes.

Operational Excellence

• Define SLA/SLOs, observability standards, and monitoring practices.
• Drive resilience planning, failover, and incident response readiness.
• Manage technology budgets, infrastructure capacity planning, and cost efficiency.

Product & Business Alignment

• Partner with product and business leaders to align technology capabilities with merchant and consumer needs.
• Support the roadmap for new payment products, services, and geographies.
• Provide technical insight to strategic business decisions, ensuring scalability and compliance.

Requirements:

• 5-10 years of technology leadership in fintech, payments, or merchant acquiring/issuing operations.
• Good understanding of gateway architecture, card issuing systems, scheme certifications, and settlement flows.
• Hands-on experience with local switch integrations and payment network connectivity.
• Proven track record in vendor selection, implementation, and delivery across SaaS, Cloud, and On-Prem.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory frameworks, PCI DSS, and PCI PIN.
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams in regulated environments.

For a discreet and confidential conversation, please do feel free to either PM me directly on LinkedIn, email me at s.burke@integerexecutivesearch.com , or call me on my direct line +353 1 697 8631